-Nephi
and his brothers propose a trade: plates
of brass for gold, silver and all their wealth.
One has material, temporal value and the other has eternal, spiritual
value. Which would Laban value? Where do our actions demonstrate the location
of our value? The currency of time
(where we spend our pondering and efforts) reveals which we value.
"...we would
give unto him our gold, and our silver, and all our precious things."
-would we
give all this for the scriptures? Do we
show it?
-Would we
make such a weighty offering of monetary value to obtain a copy of the
scriptures if we did not have them? Do
we show the scriptures that much worth and put such a high value on them or do
they sit like paperweights in the dusty corners of our bookshelves (which is no
more than a physical representation of the position they occupy in the dusty
corners of our heart and mind). I believe
that there will be an accounting made for the value we put on them.
-If the
principle is true, those things we
obtain too easily far too often do not acquire the intrinsic worth that is
demanded by the object and thereby become objects of ingratitude, waste and
devaluation, then we should be very careful that the scriptures do not become
objects of luxury and convenience.
Ingratitude, waste and devaluation of a celestial gift are not things
the Lord is bound to look favorably upon.
We would have a more worthy attitude of the scriptures if we, like
Joseph Smith, were forced to use every effort to defend them from enemies. While some find that the golden plates are
still golden, they might as well be buried deep in the mountainside as much as
some of the Saints use them.
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